Topic
The Intermediate State
The condition of the dead between death and the resurrection. Scripture says less about it than readers often assume, and it is nobody’s final state.
Also called: the intermediate state, life between death and resurrection, the state of the dead
The rich man is in Hades in torment while his brothers are still alive, which places that scene in the intermediate state rather than after the last judgment. Peter writes that the Lord knows how to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, which gives both a reason for their continuance and a limit on it.
Conditionalists differ about what this state involves. Some hold that the dead are conscious; some hold that they sleep until the resurrection. Nothing in the case for conditional immortality requires settling that question, and this site does not settle it.
What matters for the argument is that survival here is credited to God sustaining rather than to a soul that cannot die, and that whatever is true of this state is not evidence about the state that follows the judgment.
What this is not
Terms in this dispute are routinely collapsed into one another. These distinctions are what keep the argument honest.
- The intermediate state is not the final state, and evidence about one is not evidence about the other.
- Being sustained until judgment is not the same as being immortal by nature.
- Hades names the realm and the intermediate state names the period; the two are related but not identical.
Principal passages
- Luke 16:19-31
- 2 Peter 2:9Listed in the Scripture index
- Philippians 1:23Listed in the Scripture index
- Ecclesiastes 9:5Listed in the Scripture index
- Revelation 6:9-11Listed in the Scripture index
Where this is argued in the case
- S05 The Rich Man and LazarusWhy this passage describes the intermediate state rather than final punishment, and why it therefore supports neither view directly.
- S09 Why Final Judgment Is DelayedWhy continued existence before judgment is evidence of God sustaining, not of inherent immortality.
- S06 Weeping, Gnashing of Teeth, and Outer DarknessWhat the two words mean in their other biblical occurrences, where the phrase is located in each parable, and why it appears with and without fire.
Objections that turn on this
- S33 What About Near-Death Experiences?A methodological argument about how experience relates to Scripture, kept separate from empirical claims about what such accounts contain.
Related topics
Sources for this topic
- Joseph Dear. The Bible Teaches Annihilationism. 1st edition, PDF version. 2016. approximately 590 pages View original of The Bible Teaches Annihilationism (opens in a new tab) Details
- Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies. c. AD 174-189. Book II, chapter 34, section 3 View original of Against Heresies (opens in a new tab) Details
Found an error or have a counterargument?
This project aims to present the strongest biblical case it can, not to avoid criticism. Factual corrections, better sources, serious counterarguments and accessibility reports are all welcome.
Submit a correction or counterargument